Practice of Emotional intelligence by Leaders at Work Place

In the webinar organized on 7th September 2022 by Ms Bija training under their Mask Leadership/ Leaders connect program , Mr Manish Gupta Founder Director, Buddhi World spoke on the topic of emotional intelligence (EI). The speaker has several years of experience in research study and practical application of EI. This was evident in the clarity with which he spoke on the subject sans a lot of jargons. The simple definition of EI given by the speaker was "the ability to know/be aware of one's own emotions, know/be aware of other people's emotions and take appropriate decisions keeping in mind emotions of both parties and the circumstances ." 

EI is most essential in the work place to susatain and grow as a company. There is a need to learn skills for emotion and social management. The key is shifting focus from just "Me" to include others as well. When this happens there would be empathy, caring, practice of listening, self regulation and ability to motivate. Being self aware would include asking questions to yourself such as "Why do I get angry?", "Why do I get irritated?", "What are the triggers?", "How do I behave in a given situation?", "How does my behaviour affect others?", "How does my behaviour affect my own self?", "Does the behaviour motivate me ?" , "Does it depress me?", "Does my response end up in rude behaviour?". The first step before setting out to understanding and correcting others is correcting oneself after gaining insights through the questions discussed above. 

If you are looking for someone else to motivate you, it has limited shelf life. It wouldn't last very long just as you need to take a bath everyday to stay clean and not just take baths on and off. It is here that the importance of self motivation comes in. A strong goal attached with an intense emotion for achieving it, serves as a big self- motivator. EI can be learnt like any other skill by devoting 20 to 30 minutes to it daily. You will soon start seeing the benefits in terms of a new calmness and better judgement while decision making. At the same time, you will no longer have the desire to judge people. 

Practising EI helps you in 'accepting the realities of life'. As a professional HR person you are able to take decisions based on the actual realities on the ground without being influenced by aspects such as fear or favour. As for example, you have a task of handing out  'pink slips' to 50 people and you are able to take action without being influenced by thoughts such as "He is my friend and therefore I have to save his job."  

Mr Manish Gupta gave some tangible and practical tips on the application of EI at the work place and in day to day life. He advised to jot down all those matters discussed earlier that gives us information on self  awareness which can then be used for 'self regulation'. The exercise in turn will enable you to understand other's emotions. Self awareness and empathy are the twin requirements for gaining emotional intelligence. To know whether you are empathetic, ask yourself at night  "How many times during the day did I use the words 'Please', 'Sorry' and 'Thank you'?"  Saying "Please sit down" instead of "Sit down" makes a lot of diffrence. Do this everyday! 

The speaker signed off by observing " When your empathetic levels increase, your self awareness levels will automatically improve". My understanding from the discussion is that the twin factors influence each other. Therefore, we would do well to enhance both our self awareness and empathy for achieving high emotional intelligence. The session was for me one of the most rewarding ones in recent times. Many talk about the subject but few explain it with clarity and in simple terms as done by Mr Manish Gupta.